


Love is the Fuel

by realiztic



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 04:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/744306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realiztic/pseuds/realiztic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First, the love of a man for a woman; second, the love of a mother for her son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cowardice is not the only thing that makes people run away.

Brittle twig. Gnarly root. Dried leaf. Rotting fruit. His boots trampled everything in his path, but his magic covered up his tracks.  
  
The idea was to get as far away from Ealdor as possible. His escape had been a narrow one – alerted by his supernatural senses to the sound of hooves and chainmail, he left the village only half an hour before Uther’s knights arrived.  
  
Oh, how he ran.  
  
It was all he could do not to look back at the hut he had shared with the bravest woman he had ever met. There had been no time to explain, but that was the thing about Hunith: she understood right away. It was just like when she first welcomed him into her home. No second thoughts, no string of questions. Just kindness.  
  
He could have taken her with him. He almost did, when her hands held on to his for a moment after giving him a water bag for the journey. But what kind of life would that be? There was no telling how far the knights would go to hunt him down. For all he knew, it may be an endless cycle of running and hiding. As long as they were together, Hunith was in danger – and he would rather give up his life with her than let her suffer at the hands of Uther.  
  
It was love that fueled the dragonlord’s feet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is Merlin's last night in Ealdor, and Hunith confronts her thoughts.

Hunith put down her quill, and looked once more at her son’s sleeping form. Tonight was the last time she would see him like this. His face looked so peaceful in the candlelight.  
  
It wasn’t an easy decision, sending him to Camelot. When the knights of Uther Pendragon forced Balinor to leave, the only family she had left was the tiny baby in her womb – the child who, she soon realized, inherited the magical abilities of his father.  
  
Not a lot of people could accept Merlin’s gift, let alone understand it. For eighteen years, the two of them had managed to live a fairly quiet life in Ealdor. But the boy was now growing up to be a man, and Hunith knew he wasn’t meant to be a farmer in an outlying community. Powers like his were given for a reason, and they had already been left untrained for too long. He needed guidance; the village had nothing to offer.  
  
She folded up her letter to Gaius and tucked it into Merlin’s bag. The house would be colder and emptier without her son, but then, he would be in the care of someone she trusted, someone who could teach him what she herself could not. The thought gave her comfort, not only for that night, but for the lonely nights that would follow.  
  
It was a mother’s love that kept the empty nest warm.


End file.
